Elton John & Brandi Carlile, Lainey Wilson and More Music Stars Shortlisted for 2025 Oscars for Best Original Song
UPDATE ( Dec. 20): Robbie Williams’ song “Forbidden Road” was removed from the 2025 Oscar shortlist for best original song on the grounds that song incorporates material from an existing song that was not written for the film in which it appears, Better Man (Paramount Pictures). Williams co-wrote the song with Freddy Wexler and Sacha Skarbek.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will not replace the song on the shortlist. Members of the music branch will choose the five nominees from a shortlist of 14 songs, rather than the customary 15.
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PREVIOUSLY (Dec. 17): Numerous music stars are on the best original song shortlist for the 2025 Oscars, including Elton John and Brandi Carlile, Lainey Wilson, Pharrell Williams, Maren Morris, Robbie Williams, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
John and Carlile are shortlisted for co-writing “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late; Wilson for co-writing “Out of Oklahoma” from Twisters; Williams for writing “Piece by Piece” from the Netflix film Piece by Piece; Morris for co-writing Kiss the Sky” from The Wild Robot; Williams for co-writing “Forbidden Road” from Better Man; and Reznor and Ross for co-writing “Compress/Repress” from Challengers.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released shortlists in 10 categories, including best original song and best original score and best documentary feature on Tuesday (Dec. 17).
While music stars were well-represented on the shortlist, several others fell short, including Luke Combs, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran and Megan Thee Stallion, Reneé Rapp and Ryan Tedder.
Two songs from Emilia Pérez appear on the shortlist for best original song. The songs are “El Mal” and “Mi Camino,” both co-written by Clément Ducol and Camille, with the film’s director, Jacques Audiard, co-writing “El Mal.”
Diane Warren is shortlisted for writing “The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight. If Warren is nominated, she’ll tie midcentury lyricist Sammy Cahn for the longest streak of consecutive nominations (eight) in the history of the category. (Cahn was a contender every year from 1954 to 1961.) This would be Warren’s 16th overall nod in this category, more than any other woman. Among women, she’s currently tied with the late Marilyn Bergman.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is shortlisted for writing “Tell Me It’s You” from Mufasa: The Lion King. Miranda has been just an Oscar away from an EGOT since 2014, when he won his first Primetime Emmy. He has been Oscar-nominated twice for writing “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana and “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto.
“El Mal” and “Mi Camino” are both nominated for both the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards for best original song. Two other songs that are nominated for both of those awards are on the Oscar shortlist — “Compress/Repress” from Challengers and “Kiss the Sky” from The Wild Robot. One is not — “Beautiful That Way” from The Last Showgirl.
The sixth nominee for the Golden Globe is “Forbidden Road” from Better Man. The sixth nominee for the Critics Choice Award is “Harper and Will Go West” from Will & Harper. Both are shortlisted here.
Kristen Wiig co-wrote the latter song with Sean Douglas. (The multitalented performer and writer was Oscar-nominated for best original screenplay for the 2011 hit Bridesmaids.) “Harper and Will Go West” has elements of humor, as have such recent nominees as “Husavik,” from the 2020 comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, and “I’m Just Ken,” from last year’s Barbie.
Here’s a complete list of this year’s 15 shortlisted songs for best original song.
Shortlisted Songs
“Beyond” from Moana 2 (Walt Disney Pictures) — Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear
“Compress/Repress” from Challengers (Amazon MGM) — Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez (Netflix) — Clément Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard
“Forbidden Road” from Better Man (Paramount Pictures) — Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler, Sacha Skarbek
“Harper and Will Go West” from Will & Harper (Netflix) — Sean Douglas, Kristen Wiig, Josh Greenbaum
“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight (Netflix) — Diane Warren
“Kiss the Sky” from The Wild Robot (DreamWorks Animation) — Delacey, Jordan Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack, Ali Tamposi
“Like a Bird” from Sing Sing (A24) — Abraham Alexander, Brandon Marcel, Adrian Quesada
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez (Netflix) — Clément Ducol, Camille
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late” (Walt Disney Pictures) — Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt, Bernie Taupin
“Out of Oklahoma” from Twisters (Universal Pictures) — Lainey Wilson, Luke Dick, Shane McAnally
“Piece by Piece” from Piece by Piece (Focus Features) — Pharrell Williams
“Sick in the Head” from Kneecap (Sony Pictures Classics) — Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, DJ Próvaí, Adrian Louis Richard Mcleod, Toddla T
“Tell Me It’s You” from Mufasa: The Lion King (Walt Disney Pictures) – Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Winter Coat” from Blitz (Apple Original Films) — Nicholas Britell, Steve McQueen, Taura Stinson
And here are some highly-touted songs that were passed over for the shortlist.
Not Shortlisted
“Ain’t No Love in -Oklahoma” from Twisters (Universal) – Jessi Alexander, Luke Combs, Jonathan Singleton
“Beautiful That Way” from The Last Showgirl (Roadside Attractions) — Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li, Andrew Wyatt
“Folie à Deux” from Joker: Folie à Deux (Warner Bros.) — Lady Gaga
“Leash” from Babygirl (A24) — Sky Ferreira, Jorge Elbrecht
“Not My Fault” from Mean Girls (Paramount Pictures) — Alexander 23, Nell Benjamin, Jasper Harris, Megan Thee Stallion, Reneé Rapp, Jeff Richmond, Ryan Tedder, Billy Walsh
“Under the Tree” from That Christmas (Netflix) — Ed Sheeran
“Vaster Than Empires” from Queer (A24) — William Burroughs, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Nominations-round voting runs from Jan. 8 to 12. Nominations will be announced Jan. 17. Final-round voting runs from Feb. 11 to 18. The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide. The show will also stream live on Hulu for the first time.
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